Wednesday, March 17, 2004 | 11:22 a.m.
Nye County commissioners on Tuesday emphatically reaffirmed Tuesday their opposition to the Southern Nevada Water Authority's applications for rights to ground water in adjacent Lincoln and Clark counties.
The water authority, seeking water rights it applied for more than a decade ago under the auspices of the Las Vegas Valley Water District, is seeking State Engineer Hugh Ricci's approval to take out 17,000 acre-feet of water annually from the Three Lakes and Tikaboo valleys in northwest Clark County and southwest Lincoln County. Hearings are scheduled to last five days next week on the issue.
Among those protesting are Inyo County in California, White Pine County, Ely, and several federal agencies. All the protesters share a concern: that the use of the water from the Nevada counties could ultimately affect groundwater supplies over a huge swath of the state and into California.
The state engineer and his staff next week will hear the evidence and arguments from both the water authority and protesters on the issue. By state law, Ricci must make the potentially tough decision on how much water can be taken from the water authority's planned wells without affecting either the habitat or existing water rights throughout the region. The decisions often come months after the hearings.
The water authority, which has accelerated its effort to tap groundwater resources to supplement the limited and drought-threatened supply from Lake Mead, has said it only wants to draw a sustainable amount of water from the planned Three Lakes and Tikaboo wells.
The 17,000 acre-feet that water authority hydrologists estimate can be taken without harm from the valleys is about enough water for 85,000 people. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, or about enough water for a typical family for one year.
Nye County commissioners and staff, who met with water authority officials last week, gathered in closed session at their meeting in Pahrump to discuss the issue before restating their opposition to the water authority applications. Commissioner Joni Eastley said simply that her county would not withdraw its existing protests to the water authority's applications, a move immediately seconded by Commissioner Patricia Cox.
The vote was 5-0 against the water authority's plans.
Commissioner Midge Carver, whose district includes much of northern Nye County all the way to parts of Pahrump, asked for support in opposing the water authority's plans.
"There is truly a need for us to protect our water resources," Carver said. She urged "anyone and everyone" to attend next week's water hearing in Carson City, or to submit written comments to the state engineer's office to oppose the applications.
After the vote, Carver said Pahrump and the rest of Nye County fears the example of Owens Valley in California. Once a water-rich area, the Owens Valley has seen much of its water flow downhill to serve Los Angeles after fighting the city, sometimes violently, for decades.
"It's always been the same issue for anyone who watches the Owens Valley," Carver said.
Although the water authority's experts say the wells would be safe and sustainable, Carver said the hydrology of the West is still not completely understood, and that makes people nervous in her county.
"There's no one that knows exactly what's going on underground," Carver said.
Nye County Chief Deputy District Attorney J. Ronald Kent said his county must oppose the water authority's plans in the short term, but he said the county would listen to the Clark County agency and keep Nye's options open in the long term.
Vince Alberta, spokesman for the water authority and its sister agency, the Las Vegas Valley Water District, said his agencies will continue to work with Nye County and other concerned stakeholders in an effort to defuse the opposition and find mutually satisfactory solutions.
He noted that while the water authority and water district applied a decade ago for water rights in Nye County, those resources are not part of the existing conceptual plan for development of "in-state water resources." Most of those resources would come from Lincoln and White Pine counties north of Clark County.
"We've just started opening up the dialogue" with Nye County, Alberta said. "This is the beginning of the process. There will be lots of discussions with all the stakeholders.
"The fact that they (Nye County's representatives) have intervened in the state engineer's hearings assures them that they will be involved, as will anybody else who intervened," Alberta said. "Ultimately, if this is going to succeed, everybody's going to have to work together. ... That's going to be critical going forward."
One prominent county in the discussions over water rights has withdrawn its protests: Lincoln County, which a year ago struck a deal with the Clark County agencies to divide up its water rights, preserving some for its own economic development while providing potential water for Las Vegas.
Carver suggested that such a solution to the dispute might not work for her constituents.
"People I know in Lincoln County don't think it was a good deal," she said. "Consequently, by that logic, I wouldn't think it would be a good deal for anyone."
She added that even in Clark County, some people would oppose the efforts to draw groundwater down to the urban area.
"I know a lot of people in Las Vegas," Carver said. "I know they're not necessarily in favor of this."
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